The Donor - Autumn 2001

TheDonorWorking togetherHow the partnership between hospitals and the NBS helps meet patient needs

Donation ReviewOur progress on making donation easier for you

Working togetherHow the partnership between hospitals and the NBS helps meet patient needs

Donation ReviewOur progress on making donation easier for you

THE PERSONAL TOUCHCreating new TV and radio advertsTHE PERSONAL TOUCHCreating new TV and radio adverts

NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL BLOOD SERVICE AUTUMN 2001 • FREE

Fighting againstthe odds

TheDonorDON’T FO

RGET

THE HELP

LINE NUMBER

0845 7 711 711

2 THE DONOR AUTUMN 2001 Find out where to give blood visit www.blood.co.uk

WELCOME & CONTENTS

GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?We welcome your personal stories, questions and comments.Write to Carlene Dias, The Editor, The Donor, National BloodService, Holland Drive, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE2 4NQ. Or visit our Website to find out more about the NationalBlood Service and where you can also send us material forThe Donor. The address is www.blood.co.uk

The cost of producing, printing and posting each copy ofthis magazine is less than the price of a first class stamp.The Donor is published by the National Blood Service. Reproduction inwhole or part is strictly forbidden without the prior permission of theNational Blood Service. NBS Project Liaison Caroline Osborne. Editorial consultancy, writing, art direction, design, subbing and production Keith Hodgson, HilaryJoseph, Nikki Racklin – LHD (020 7609 6955). Reproduction – LDPG(London). Printed in the UK by Apple Web Offset Ltd on paper from sustainable forests. Cover photograph: Adolfo Crespo

3 NEWS FEATURE & NEWSLatest news and stories from donors and blood donor centresacross the country

7 SAVING LIVES TOGETHERCatch up with events around the country from the recentcampaign to recruit more donors

8 A PERSONAL TOUCH Gary Lineker, Richard Branson, Robbie Earl – yes even famouspeople rely on blood donors sometimes. So when it was time tomake fresh TV and radio ads, it made sense to call in thecelebrities

10 vCJD, AN UPDATEExperts are working towards finding a test for vCJD, whilstprecautionary measures have been in place for two years

11 DONATION REVIEW UPDATEThe Donation Review is progressing to provide donors with a better service in the future

12 OVER TO YOUCheck out the letters page, plus health Q&A and kids’webwatch

13 MY LIFE …WORKING TOGETHERMeet the man who liaises with the hospitals to make sure theymake the most of the blood you donate

14 AGAINST ALL ODDSHow blood and blood products are helping a girl fight leukaemia

15 THE INFORMATION CENTREWhere to contact us for your donor queries

16 UNITED BEHIND RUBINAWhy we need more donors from the rarer blood groups to helppeople like Rubina and other sufferers of Thalassaemia Major

In this Autumn issue

Celebrity response see pages 8/9 Against the odds see page 14

Hello again! Doesn’t timefly? Summer holidays areover and Christmas is justaround the corner.

Thank you to everyonewho took the time to writein. It’s great receiving yourletters, I pass them all on to

the relevant departments. For example, com-ments about waiting times go to our CollectionManagement function; award queries will bepassed on to our Donor Response department. Ihope this helps to clarify how your correspon-dence is dealt with.

We certainly got a lot of comments about ourrecent article ‘The Donation Review’. As you willread on page 11, things have moved on andwe’ll keep you updated on our progress. Aninteresting study has taken place about you, ourdonors - look opposite at page 3 to find outmore. Go to pages 8 & 9 to find out about ournew TV and radio adverts and the celebritieswho helped support our campaign.

The NBS is committed to increasing our bonemarrow registry. News pages 4 and 5 featuretwo very special donor sessions which helpedmeet the increasing demand for bone marrow.

The objective of The Donor is to keep youupdated with the latest developments and workof the NBS. Therefore we felt it was importantto report on the collaborative work we aredoing in relation to vCJD, detailed on page 10.

I hope you will enjoy this issue of The Donor.If you no longer wish to receive a copy, please contact our National Contact Centre on0845 7 711 711 who will ensure your name isremoved from the mailing list.

Carlene DiasEditor

The National Blood Service is run by The National Blood Authoritywhich is a Special Health Authority within the National Health Service

NEWS FEATURE

THE DONOR AUTUMN 2001 3Don’t forget the Helpline number 0845 7 711 711

Blood donors are…● More likely to own a car

and use a bicycle than therest of the population

● More likely to support anenvironmental charity

● Much less likely to smoke● Interested in music, theatre

and home-computing● More likely to own a cat

than a dog● More likely to be involved

in active sports like swim-ming than non-active sportssuch as fishing

How new recruitsshape-up● About 30% of new recruits

signed up after an existingdonor encouraged them

● Two thirds of new recruitsmade a donation in theirfirst year, a third didn’t

● In their first year almost17% of new recruits donat-ed three times, but only 5%did so in the second year

● Overall, more women wererecruited than men (61%compared to 39%)

● In older age groups of newrecruits, men and womenwere represented equally

more than 50% of the new recruitswill not make more than onedonation.”

Surprise findingOne surprise has been how manynew recruits are not able to donateat a session. Says Crispin, “About30% will at some point not be ableto give blood when they try to. Thishigh proportion has surprised us,but it could be that seasoneddonors know the ropes, and sowon’t attend a session if, forexample, they’ve recently travelledto a malarial country or had atattoo. New recruits may not havethat knowledge. We also know thatif a new recruit is turned away, theyare unlikely to come back.”

So impressive is the scope of thestudy, it has been shortlisted for amarketing award.

Says Caroline Osborne, NBSHead of Marketing Services, “Thisstudy is very important to us. There’sno substitute for blood. We have tolook after our donors, which meansunderstanding how they feel whenthey come along to a session, andmaking sure that even if they can’tgive blood on that occasion, wedon’t make them feel rejected. Thisstudy will help us do that. ”

Thanks to Crispin and his team,the NBS probably has moreinformation on blood donorbehaviour and trends than anyother blood service in the world. Itreceives a steady stream of inform-ation from the NBS databases,which is helping them to carry out aunique tracking study of newrecruits designed to give insight intodonor behaviour. While carryingout research, the NBS is alwayscareful to maintain individuals’data security and confidentiality.

Getting to know you“We’re following 40,000 peoplerecruited in 1999, taking monthlysnapshots of where they have gotto,” explains Crispin. “The aim ofthe study is to understand whichgroups of donors need particular

encouragement, and to identifywhere we are getting it wrong andcausing donors to fall away.”

“So far we’ve built up 24snapshots using information fromour databases. At a later date wehope to interview or sendquestionnaires to recruits tounderstand why, for example, someof them never donate at all aftersigning up, while others start offvery keen with three donations ayear, then fall back to the average ofbetween 1 and 2 a year. It’s veryclear that there’s an initial burst ofenthusiasm, which then tails off.There’s also a very strong drop-outrate – the research suggests that

Thanks to new research, the NBS is getting toknow its donors even better. Whether you’re anew recruit or veteran, the goal is to make blooddonation a positive experience for everyone

There’s no such thing asan average donor

There’s nothing like a bit ofresearch to turn receivedwisdom on its head. Three

years ago the NBS set up a dataanalysis and market research facilityin North London to look at trends inblood collection and demand. Withdemand for blood high, and thenumbers of donors levelling off, it isvital that we encourage the donorsthat we have to give more blood, aswell as trying to boost new donorrecruitment.

Crispin Wickenden, who headsup the four person research teamsays, “Before we set up thedepartment, it was believed that itwas younger people we should bechasing because of the number ofdonating years ahead of them.However, when we analysedcollection data and found that theaverage donor ‘life span’ was sevenyears, we realised there was in factno disadvantage in chasing peoplein their 40s, 50s and 60s. In fact upuntil their 50s, older donors tend tomake more donations than theyounger ones.”

Crispin’s team also found thatrural people are the most reliableblood donors. “Of course we collect most blood in urban areaswhere there are more people, but, per head of population, ruralpeople are top donors. It’s becausethey turn up regularly.”

A better service: Understandingdonors needs will help keepthem coming back to give blood

THE DONOR AUTUMN 2001 5

NEWS

Don’t forget the Helpline number 0845 7 711 7114 THE DONOR AUTUMN 2001

NEWS

Find out where to give blood visit www.blood.co.uk

Elizabeth Morris

Five year old ElizabethMorris (pictured right) is a

pupil at St Saviour Church ofEngland Primary School inStoneclough near Bolton.

She developed AcuteLymphoblastic Leukaemia, adisease affecting white bloodcells, at just 17 months.During her treatment she hashad regular transfusions ofblood and platelets.

When Diane Sears,whose children also attend StSaviour School, heard aboutthis she decided to contactthe NBS. Diane with thesupport of Headmaster, MrSmith, held a blood donorsession to help Elizabeth andother patients who dependon blood transfusions.

A session at the schoolwas arranged and leafletswere given out to all localschools and businesses.Diane, Mr. Smith andElizabeth’s mother Janetwere very keen for the wholeschool to be involved. Withhelp from parents, a crèchewas set up for donors’children, and a cake stall andraffle organised.

On the day, a queue ofdonors formed who not onlywanted to give blood but also

Count Dracula turned over anew leaf when he dropped in

to Blandford Forum’s local donorsession to give a pint of blood.

Regular donor Colin Morrisdressed up as Dracula tocelebrate giving his 50thdonation through the NBS.

Colin, aged 43, has beengiving blood for almost 20 yearsand decided to become theCount for the day to encouragemore people to give blood.

He said, “Giving blood saveslives and it is great to know that I have helped. Ialways have a laugh with staff at the sessionsand, because of my job as a bat conservationist,most people normally know me as Batman!However, I decided to become Dracula for theday because I thought it would make a changeto see him give back a bit of blood instead oftaking it!”

Colin added,“When people find out what Ido for a living they often link bats to Draculaand vampires, giving them ‘bad press’. In factbats are gentle social creatures which benefit usby eating nocturnal flying insects andpollinating flowers. Maybe Dracula givingblood will improve not only his profile but alsothat of bats as well!”

The Around Britain CanoeTeam Challenge 2002 is a

truly challenging project tocircumnavigate the BritishIsles by Sea Kayak, at the sametime raising the awareness ofthe NBS and other UK BloodServices.

Nigel Rogoff, an amputee,pictured on the right andDavid Abrutat a paraplegic(not shown), plan to completethe mission, a first for peoplewith this kind of physicaldisability, over a 130-dayperiod starting 12th April2002 at Tower Bridge,London.

Nigel was injured in askydiving accident at theAston Villa Football Clubground in 1998 and Davidwas injured in a road accidentin 2000. Both survived theirserious injuries thanks to the

expert medical treatment theyreceived which included largequantities of blood.

Nigel and David havesubsequently become inter-ested in supporting the UKBlood Services in its role ofsuppling essential life-savingsupplies of blood and bloodproducts.

The activity surrounding

the challenge will form part ofthe Spring / Summer focus ofthe NBS’s year long campaignurging new and regulardonors to get to theirdonation session anyway theycan - It doesn’t matter how!

Together, the NBS andChallenge team are encour-aging support from allquarters and sponsors arerequired to help finance theproject and provide suppliesthat will be vital to its success.

You can help by visitingwww.abcchallenge.org fora complete run down of whatis required and how you, yourfriends, family, colleagues, ororganisation can lend yoursupport.

Alternatively you can [email protected] formore information, or withyour suggestions.

Rob gets to100 for RossRob Carter from Hull has

just been recognised forgiving over 100 units of bloodand platelets. Rob, a regulardonor, is one of the many thatthe NBS rely on to keephospital blood supply flowing.But each time Rob gives bloodit is a little thank you to all theother donors to whom hefeels indebted.

Rob has a ten year old son,Ross, who became ill in 1992aged two. Ross was diagnosedwith Cerebellar Glioblastoma,which is a malignant braintumour rarely found in children.

The extensive surgery toremove the tumour andsubsequent chemotherapy,mean Ross has received over100 units of blood andplatelets.

At one point Ross had aplatelet count of onecompared to a healthy childwho would have a count ofbetween 150 to 400, and had to be rushed to hospitalfor an emergency platelettransfusion.

Rob sums up what blooddonors mean to him bysaying, “Nine years on I havegiven 101 donations anddespite Ross being given verylittle chance of survival, he isnow doing well with thecancer behind him. That isdown to the care and skill ofthe staff at St James Hospitalin Leeds and the countlessunknown donors who gavetheir blood to Ross.”

join the bone marrow registry. The session, in the re-

arranged classrooms, was ahuge success, with over 150people attending including anamazing 127 new and lapseddonors.

Alice MaddocksNine year old Alice Maddocks(pictured opposite with hermum) is a pupil at HangingHeaton Junior and InfantsSchool near Batley in WestYorkshire. Alice suffers fromSevere Aplastic Anaemia andneeds regular transfusions ofred cells and platelets. If Aliceshows no sign of improve-

ment with her currenttreatment she will need abone marrow transplant.

Mr Bately, Headmaster atAlice’s school, thought ablood donor session, wherepeople could donate andregister to become a bonemarrow donor, would be agood way of supporting Aliceand her family.

The session was wellpublicised at other localschools, and via businessesand leaflet drops to housesaround the area. Responsewas impressive – 170 peopleattended and over 100donors also signed up to

The spectators had neverseen anything like it...

At the recent GatesheadInternational Athleticsmeeting, tension mounted asthe mascots lined up understarter’s orders. After a quickintroduction and a wave tothe packed stadium, theywere off!

Angus the monkey from

Hartlepool FC took an earlylead, closely followed byCaptain Thunder ofGateshead RLFC. Billy BloodDrop continued steadily,dodging rugby tackles andremaining upright.

Admittedly he did notfinish in first place but, he didplay fair and beat his old archrival Mr Energiser. Linford

Christie would havebeen proud.

Although nomedals were won,both Lorna and Pam (Billy’s helpers)worked very hardthroughout the day.Best of all, thisnationally televisedevent was an idealopportunity to getthe message acrossto give bloodregularly.

Megan McCarthy is abouncy seven year old

who owes her life to blooddonors. Delivered at 32 weeksat Guy's Hospital Special BabyCare Unit, Megan needed atransfusion even before shewas born because of her lowhaemoglobin count.

Suffering from DBA(Diamond Blackfan Anaemia)which she inherited from her

mother Jane, Megan hasneeded transfusions every fiveweeks since she was two.Managing her illness is morecomplicated than simpletransfusions though.

Because Megan needsblood so often, she could endup with too much iron. Aspecial drug prevents this, butthis can't be taken by mouthbecause it has to be givenslowly over the course of aweek. So a special pump isconnected to Megan'sportacath (a special portablecatheter which sits just underher skin and takes the

transfusion needle). Shewears the pump night andday, one week on and oneweek off.

Every transfusion reallydoes give Megan a new leaseof life - the donated blood hasan instant effect, giving herenergy and making her feelon top of the world.

Thanks to all this donatedblood the future looks bright

for Megan, whodespite also havingmild cerebral palsyis thriving at themainstream StPaulinus Church ofEngland School inEssex, where staffand children take

extremely good care of her. Megan's grandmother,

Jean Hamilton, says she andthe family will always begrateful to all the unknowndonors who are helpingMegan. "I thank them fromthe bottom of my heart."

Transfusions for life

Four runners in this year’sLondon Marathon were

after blood. They were askingtheir sponsors for life timepledges, encouraging them toenrol as blood donors.

Dave Griggs, who worksfor BT in Preston, enrolledmore than 20 new donors,raised money for his localscout group and also ‘The

Bungalow’ a local children’srespite care home. Despite histraining schedule he stillfound time to give blood onthe Thursday before the race!

Matthew Craske fromHayes in Middlesex raisedmoney for St George’sHospital in Tooting. Matthew,who works for propertyconsultants Drivers Jonas, isalso a regular donor. Hesaid,”As a motorcyclist I amwell aware of traffic accidentsand know that if I neededblood it would be there.”

Zeb Iqbal, a solicitor fromBradford, was keen to run in aT-shirt from the NBS as he

Special donor sessions for special little girls

The long way round the UK

Blood is Megan's lifeline

Rachael Walker, picturedbelow, turned 21 in

September and she feels thatshe owes her life to blooddonors.

Rachael has SideroblasticAnaemia, which means herbone marrow cannot produce

its own red cells, so she iscompletely dependant ontransfusion.

Since she was diagnosed ateighteen months old Rachaelhas received four units ofblood every four weeks, andwill continue to need them forthe rest of her life.

Says Rachael, “Peopleassume that transfusions arethe worst part of my illness. Forme that’s not the case. It’s hardto loathe something whichkeeps me alive and makes mefeel better. Transfusions arenot only a way of life, they aremy life, for life.”

Rachael, who is currentlytraining to be a nurse said,“Hopefully when I qualify I willbe able to give somethingback through my care.”

become bone marrowdonors. Local TV and presswere there on the day.

Thanks again to thecollection team who workedfrom 4.00 p.m. right throughuntil 10.30pm. HeadmasterMr Bately, who donated bloodhimself, said, “The turn-outwas absolutely fantastic. Itwas after 11.40pm when wefinally locked the school up.”And after midnight when theNBS team finally returned totheir base in Leeds. Mr andMrs Maddocks thanked theNBS, Mr Bately and staff fortheir hard work and support.

Dean and Carol, Alice’sparents, have been regularly

campaigning to raise aware-ness for the need for bonemarrow donors. Two weeksafter the session they had ameeting with Prime Minister,Tony Blair.

The NBS has been givenextra funding to recruit30,000 bone marrow donorsthis year. Using targetedmarketing activity the NBSwill raise the profile of bonemarrow donation, and willnow routinely be able to takebone marrow samples fromfirst time donors.

To find out more aboutbecoming a bone marrowdonor please call the DonorHelpline on 0845 7 711 711.

NBS counts on Dracula’s donation

Running with the pack

Running For Lifewanted to encourage newdonors particularly fromamongst the ethnicminorities. Zeb, who firststarted running in the crosscountry at school, said, “ I amaware of the importance ofgetting the message aboutblood donation into the Asiancommunity both locally andnationally. I hope I will

encourage people to becomeblood donors.”

Steve Morgan, Head ofFinancial Planning for theNBS, completed his eighthmarathon, and as well as hismedal he also collected somenew donors. Steve said,“Giving blood couldn’t beeasier compared with thestresses and strains ofmarathon running. I wouldurge anyone who has neverdonated before to just comealong to a session and try it.”

Left to right: Steve Morgan,Matthew Craske, Billy, ZebIqbal and Dave Griggs

Megan four days old inhospital, above, andtoday as a healthy sevenyear old, left.

Don’t forget the Helpline number 0845 7 711 711Find out where to give blood visit www.blood.co.uk

NEWS

6 THE DONOR AUTUMN 2001

Billy gets them to give beforethey goBilly was busy this summer with our Give Before You Go Campaign, which was run inpartnership with Thomas Cook travel agents,encouraging people to make a blood donationbefore their holidays.

CAMPAIGN NEWS

THE DONOR AUTUMN 2001 7

As part of the Saving LivesTogether campaign, Kent

Ambulance Service has beendisplaying eye-catching stickersto remind the public about theconstant need for blood donors.

Ambulances and blooddonors both save lives, and it’shoped that the prominentcampaign message willencourage people to think aboutsaving a life themselves, andvolunteer as a donor.

Helping at the launch wasBritain’s biggest blood donor andKent resident, Gerry Warhurst,pictured here with Billy BloodDrop. Gerry, from Petts Wood, hasdonated whole blood on everypossible occasion since his firstdonation in 1949, when he was 18.

He only recently donated hislast pint which took his tally up to154 whole blood donations. Moreimportantly however, Gerry may well have helped tosave the lives of over 300 people.

Ken Smith, Chief Ambulance Officer said, “We are

delighted to be able to join the NBS in this partnershipand fully recognise the vital role that blood donorsplay in saving lives.”

Billy goes to great heights to getnew donors

Billy Blood Drop has been flying high this year topromote the NBS Saving Lives Together campaign.The NBS teamed up with Wiltshire Air Ambulance,

Devon Air Ambulance and HMS Flying Fox to promotethe importance of giving blood to save lives.

Four new blood donors from HMS Flying Fox werekeen to lead the way and encourage new donors tosign up.

Fun in the sun Two year old Jake Billington, from Poole in Dorset, enjoyed

some fun in thesun with his mumLaura (picturedbelow), thanksto the NBS GiveBefore You Gocampaign.

They joinedBilly Blood Dropand lifeguardsfrom RNLI BeachRescue to help

flag up the needfor giving blood. Jake received blood to help him throughan operation to remove a tumour in August and has justfinished a year of treatment.

Mum Laura said, “It is vital that people continue to giveblood because there are lots of children just like Jake whoneed donated blood to stay alive. I would urge people togive blood because it really does save lives.”

Life savers join forces

On 24th and 25th May the Tri-Service Defence School of

Transport (DST) at NormandyBarracks, Leconfield near Beverly,opened the doors of a huge hangerfor a two day donation session bytwo teams from Leeds.

The DST was formed as the“Centre of excellence” for driver

training of personnel from the RoyalNavy, Royal Marines, Army and RoyalAir Force. The base also trainsemergency services from across thecountry.

The session was organised inresponse to the NBS Saving LivesTogether campaign and collectedjust under 400 units. Amazingly, twothirds of the donors had never givenbefore, increasing the number oflifesavers that can be called upon.

Regular sessions are planned,due to the superb support. AndrewCalvert, NBS Field MarketingManager for the North said, “Thiswas a great start to the newpartnership with the MOD, whichwill see more Tri-Service donationsessions across the country in thefuture.”

Billy Blood Drop joined leukaemiapatient Lucy House and the Red Coats atButlins in Minehead for an afternoon ofholiday fun as part of the Give BeforeYou Go campaign.

Twenty-one year old Lucy, fromWellington, Somerset, who is now inremission, received 10 bloodtransfusions during her treatment and iskeen to support the campaign

She said, “I always wanted to giveblood, but I never thought I would needit myself and only then did I realise howvaluable it was. It was my lifeline. I amextremely grateful to all the peoplewho give blood because it was theirdonations that enabled me to receivethe treatment I so desperately needed.There are lots of other people like mewho depend on blood donors to keepgiving and I would urge people to go

along to their next session as they reallycan make a difference and save lives.”

Bryan Leaker, Butlins Resort Directorsaid, “It is of vital importance to makepeople aware of the need to give blood.We have over 1 million people at Butlinseach year and if we can encourage themto become donors that would besuperb.”

Saving Lives TogetherThe National Blood Service (NBS) and our

mascot Billy got together with other life-saving organisations this spring to launch theSaving Lives Together campaign.

The aim was to recognise the link betweenblood donors and organisations that work tosave lives and improve the quality of life. Theinitial goal was to encourage existing and newdonors to give blood before, during and afterEaster, with a view to building stock levelsleading into the May Bank Holidays andsummer.

The NBS teamed up with a whole raft ofpeople including ambulance and fire services,police, lifeboat crews, NHS Trusts and Health

Natural partners spread eye catching message

Firefighters team up

Community Fire Safety Officer David Hayward gaveblood for the very first time after the NBS teamed up

with Avon Fire Brigade for the Saving Lives Togethercampaign.

David, 48, said, “I’d seen the advertising notices andthis time I thought, ‘I really must do it’. So I spoke to thecontact and got booked in.”

The previous week Billy Blood Drop met firefightersfrom Avon Fire Brigade ,including one special member ofstaff, Ken Bennett, who knows from personal experiencehow vital blood is as he has needed a blood transfusionhimself. Billy also met blood donor Astrid Glover andrecipient Tom Beddard-Coll.

Kevin Pearson, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, said, “We arecommitted to supporting the NBS campaign of raisingpublic awareness of the need for more blood donors, andvehicle stickers will be displayed on 136 fire engines.”

First time donor David is also keen to encourageothers to start giving. Following his first donation headded, “The whole process was easy, relaxed andfriendly. No hassle. I’ll give again.”

Billy Blood Drop brightened upTorbay Beach this summer whenhe met five year old leukaemiapatient, Emma Cann, pictured(on the left) with her sister Lauraand two beach attendants.

Billy, Emma and her family(mum Anne, dad Eddie andsister Laura, aged 8) joined thebeach attendants on the sand to

urge more people to give bloodand help save lives.

Emma (who is now inremission) received blood andblood products during two yearsof treatment and her family arekeen to support the Give BeforeYou Go campaign to ensurepeople keep giving bloodespecially, at holiday times.

Mum Anne said, “I amextremely grateful to all thepeople who have given bloodand helped Emma receive thetreatment she so desperatelyneeded. Many people probablydon’t think about giving blood,but it really does save lives. Ididn’t give blood before, but Ido now as I am very aware thatthere are lots of others, just likeEmma, who need blood for vitaltreatments.”

Billy brightens up the beach

Positive start for campaign

England footballers are real lifesaversAt a recent England

football teamtraining camp in Derby,four members of thesquad took time out tolend their support to theNBS. They helped launchthe Give Before You Gosummer campaign.

The picture, left, was used in local andregional newspapers andgenerated TV and radiointerviews publicisingthe need for blood overthe summer months.

On July 4, 2000 theNational Blood Service

(NBS) and Sickle andThalassaemia Association ofCounsellors (STAC) launcheda campaign to attract more blood donors from theAfrican and Afro-Caribbeancommunity.

Our aim is to maintainawareness of the need forregular blood donors ingeneral and more donorsfrom the African and Afro-

Caribbean community inparticular.

The response to thecampaign has been verypositive and once again therewas a great deal of activity insupport of International SickleCell Awareness Day, July 4,2001.

Large scale recruitmentand PR activity is confined toLondon for the moment whiletests for Malaria and SickleCell are being phased in.

Awards update

In the last issue of The Donorwe told you about our plans

for the new awards policy. Before we could introduce itwe needed three key things inplace: the survey of apheresisdonors, stock levels of oldawards to be low and a newcomputer programme to helptrack the awards. That’s allready now, and we hope tohave the new awards policyrolled out across the countryby the end of the year.

Log on to www.vampirenightly.com to enjoy

some spooky fun and games.The spoof lifestyle site for

“vampires” has plenty ofentertainment. Much of thecontent has been sponsoredby popular UK brands,including book publishersRandom House.

The aim of the site is toraise awareness of the NBS,help increase blood donationsand encourage people to

become regular blooddonors.

The site features “I Wantto Bite Your...”, where you canfind your ideal mate based onblood type and horoscope,“From Dusk Til Dawn”, whereyou can discover the wilderside of city nightlife and ahuge selection of games,movie downloads, horrorstories, auctions and greatprizes. Surf along and let usknow if you think we’re bats.

Hallowe’en fun

Authorities, lifeguards, cave and mountainrescue teams.

All of these organisations have one veryimportant thing in common with blooddonors, they all help to save lives. By workingtogether they helped the campaign not onlyto raise the profile about the constant need forblood, but also highlight the amazing work ofother life-saving organisations that strive tosave and improve lives.

The NBS would like to thank all theorganisations and individuals who gave uptheir time to help support our campaign andwe look forward to working with them againin the future.

Billy goes to Butlins

Making commercials is one thing - decidingwhen and where to play them is another.

TV buying is a complex process. ITV1 & 2 , C4 and C5,Satellite and Cable, Digital and Analogue, give us 326channels to choose from. All this before consideringwhat the BBC are showing. How do we know whatour audience is tuning in to?

Fortunately, this is measured and reported by acompany called AGB (Audits of Great Britain), usinginformation from over 4,500 electronic meters inhomes across Britain. So for every minute of everyday, they can determine who is watching what andfor how long.

Most of our target audience are aged between 25

and 45, and watch a lot of ITV. These are relativelyeasy to reach as their viewing habits are more pre-dictable. But what about the younger element? Wealso need to reach them. We know that they watchless TV than average and can be disloyal to all but the‘coolest’ shows.

To reach this audience we use C4, C5 and Satellite.The total numbers viewing each programme may beless than ITV at any one time, but proportionally theymake up a higher percentage of the group. Thismeans our TV buying is more cost efficient.

Additionally, we actively look to buy into programmes that deliver a heightened awareness ofthe blood donation message, such as A&E, ER,Casualty and related documentaries. This strategyachieves higher than average response level.

Getting the ad seen

TV AND RADIO ADVERTISING


TV AND RADIO ADVERTISING


You may have seen our newTV advertisements broad-cast in June and July. The

response to the appeal has beenfantastic, with an increase in donornumbers attending sessions andblood stocks going up. It put us in agood position to survive the tradi-tionally difficult summer holidays.

Our old commercials wereshowing their age. They’d beenaired many times over the lastcouple of years and the response tothem was starting to dwindle. Weknew it was time for a freshcampaign.

The process began by decidingwhat message we wanted to tellthe public this time. Like drinkingand driving advertisements, blooddonation has a simple message, butthere are many different ways ofputting it across. We brainstormedideas within the NBS, with ouradvertising agency DLKW and withCOI Communications. But the mainconclusions came from researchcarried out amongst our donorsand the general public.

Valuable researchWe learnt a lot from the research.People liked the old adverts, butdidn‘t think they were “personal”enough. Also, most people were

genuinely surprised at the numberof uses for blood in hospitals. Theygenerally only think of road trafficaccidents.

When people are informedabout the different uses for blood(cancer treatment, heart surgery,childbirth, etc.) they realise thatthey know more people who haveneeded blood, or are likely to needit in the future, than they thought.We realised that the idea ofsomeone they know needing bloodmight spur potential donors tovolunteer and attend a session.

Armed with this information, wedecided to produce a campaignwith celebrities who have neededblood.

At this point the TV campaignonly existed in the form of scripts, with speculative castingsuggestions, which had to beapproved by the televisionadvertising regulators, BroadcastAdvertising Clearance Centre(BACC). Then we appointed adirector and producer and thesearch for celebrities began.

for the voice-over. They then wentback to the BACC for final clearancebefore being sent to all the TVstations for broadcasting.

Radio advertisingWith the launch of the new TVadvertising, we needed to revampour radio adverts as well; both toupdate their image and tocomplement the TV adverts.

The radio ads are in the samestyle as the TV ads with RobertKilroy Silk, Gary Lineker and CarolSmillie all talking about theirpersonal experiences.

On behalf of everyone at theNational Blood Service, we wouldlike to thank all the celebrities whooffered their help, but who wecouldn’t use, and a very big thankyou to those celebrities who foundthe time out of their busy schedulesto work with us on this project.

range of uses of blood, and featurea wide range of personalities fromdifferent walks of life. We alsowanted to reinforce the connectionwith nearest and dearest. Forexample, we used Gary Linekertalking about his son and RichardBranson talking about his father. Allcelebrities chosen gave their timefree of charge.

Actual donorsWe then cast the roles of the donorsfrom actors who were also realblood donors. We shot thecommercials in Manchester andLondon, and each scene averagedjust a couple of hours filming.

Although the celebrities wereusing their own words, we triedeach scene in lots of different waysto see what sounded best. We hadglorious weather for each of thethree days which meant we had touse a rain machine with GaryLineker to give his scene a differentfeel. We filmed Richard Bransonand his dad on a double decker bus!

We edited all the films back inLondon and used Sean Bean again

The personal touch

When we decided to update our TV commercials, we had no idea we’d inspire such a personal reaction from the celebrities we asked to take part. The response from new and existing donors was also tremendous. Here’s the story behind the campaign

Copies of TV Times and Hello!came in very useful. We neededeight or nine celebrities, willing totalk about their experience ofneeding blood (for themselves orfor someone close) on camera andbe available to film when weneeded them. In all, we sent almost200 letters to agents, televisionstations, production companies,football clubs and even the Houses

of Parliament. The response was terrific. Even

celebrities who had never neededblood phoned us in person to wishus well. In the end we actually hadmore celebrities than we hadadverts to use them in.

We wanted to cover a broad

Ready to roll: Linda back in the saddle thanks to blood donors like you

Life savers: Heather owes her life to donors like the actors behind herEvery picture tells a story: Mo Mowlem (left), Robbie Earl (above),William Roach and Denise Welch (not pictured) all had touchingpersonal stories of how blood and blood products had saved lives

On the buses: We took RichardBranson to work on the bus withhis father after the shoot overran

Cold feet: Gary getting his feetwet on a sunny day to help getthe message across for us

Most people weregenuinely surprised

at the number of uses for blood in

hospitals. They generally only

think of road traffic accidents.

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The NBS has for many yearsscreened each and everydonation of blood and at

present we test for Hepatitis B and C Viruses, HIV and Syphilis.Another test we may be able tointroduce in about two years timeis one for variant Creutzfeldt-JakobDisease (vCJD).

Although there is no risk todonors in giving blood, currentscientific research indicates thatthere is an unknown risk, that vCJD may be transmitted by bloodand tissues. To date, there is noevidence that this is the case, butour present state of knowledgesuggests that it may be possible.

To minimise this unknown risk itis essential that the NBS carries out

extensive research and riskassessment before any decisionsare made.

The NBS is committed tocollaborating with experts who are working towards finding a test and any possible means ofpreventing vCJD from developing.It is encouraging to note reports on real progress being made in thisarea. The NBS has researchersinvolved in this quest but, equallyimportant is the need for us tounderstand how to best handle theintroduction of a test.

We introduced a couple ofprecautionary measures almosttwo years ago. Firstly, the removalof leucocytes (white cells) fromblood before it is transfused; this

RESEARCH

vCJD, an update

procedure is called leucodepletion.You may have noticed our bloodpacks have an extra filter, whichallows this process to take placeback at our laboratories. The othermeasure introduced was thedecision not to use UK plasma to manufacture blood products, for example Factor VIII forhaemophiliacs. Plasma used for this process is imported from

It simply isn’t known yet if vCJD can be transmit-ted via blood. Until there’s clear evidence the NBSis taking every precaution to protect recipients

The Components Develop-ment Laboratory atBrentwood is the main lab

in the country to scientificallyevaluate new ways of processingwhole blood donations intoblood components.

In recent years the team therehas been heavily involved inhelping to evaluate new filtersystems used to leucodepleteblood - that is to remove whiteblood cells from blood.

"Before we introduce a newfilter we check a whole range ofproteins in the blood, before and after filtration, to ensure that the filters have nodetrimental effect on the qualityof blood given to patients” says DrRebecca Cardigan, who is Head ofComponents Development. ”Oncewe are satisfied with the results,our colleagues conduct large scaletrials in our processing labs."

The Lab has also played animportant role in evaluating teststo count the number of white

blood cells left in the blood afterfiltration has taken place.

By continually monitoring thenumber of white blood cells left in a sample of the bloodcomponents produced, the Lab isable to make sure that the filterscontinue to work well.

Says Dr Cardigan, “The systemis quite sensitive to changes in theperformance of the filters so itacts as a kind of early warningindicator - if we see any changeswe can do something about it,before it could possibly become aproblem.”

The department has stronglinks with the Welsh and ScottishBlood Services, ensuring thatwork is not duplicated here withinthe UK.

Says Dr Cardigan,"I’m veryproud of the work our team hascarried out: we have recentlypublished some of it in the BritishJournal of Haematology to makesure that other countries canbenefit from it."

countries with no reported cases of BSE or vCJD.

Variant CJD presents majorchallenges to all Blood Servicesacross the world, particularly in theUK. We aim to keep you informedabout future developments andwould like to re-iterate to all donorshow vital their continued support isin helping to save and improve thelives of others.

Rigourous testing for safer blood

Dr Rebecca Cardigan at work in the laboratory

New filters like theseare used toleucodeplete blood

Worcester and Rugbyhave been picked totest out our new,

improved donation process. Sixmonths ago we told you about ourDonation Review, which aims toimprove and speed up our dona-tion sessions across the country.Now we're ready to put our ideasto the test.

The volunteersVolunteer donors, who have agreedto take part in the two blood donorsessions being held in the citiesduring October, will have a chanceto see how things are changing forthe better. First there's the fast-track

system for regular donors which willallow them to fill in the tick-boxquestionnaire at home, before theyattend, which will save valuabletime at the session.

Secondly, at the session, thedonor carer will look after two

out the country. We envisage thatthis will take about two years, butat the end we will have a trulydonor focused approach to blood

donation sessions. Your feedback during the

review has been vital. Forexample, some donors didnot agree with the enforcedbed rest after donating. Aftercareful assessment of donorsafety, our clinical expertsdecided that the rest couldbe optional for regulardonors. It's still necessary fornew donors though. Regulardonors in the Midlands andSouth have already beengiven the choice of going tothe refreshments areadirectly after they donate.We'll be asking donors fortheir comments about thisand, once this analysis iscomplete, the change will be

introduced nationwide.

Thanks to you the donorsWe would like to thank donors fortheir valuable input into developinga new donation process. In the nextissue of The Donor (April 2002), wewill let you know how the trialswent and what changes to expect.

DONATION REVIEW UPDATE

Things will get better...Thanks to our top-to-bottom review of thedonation process, donors can look forward tofaster, easier, more efficient sessions


AUTUMNThis autumn sweepinto one of 5,600

different venues thatare used to hold

sessions.There’s bound to be

one near you.

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Earlier this year Mr andMrs Phillips, veteran

donors from Coventry, tookpart in two "dry" donor ses-sions in the city.

This important part of theDonation Review wasdesigned to test out changesto how sessions are run andhear donors' views. Every-thing was like a real session,except no blood was taken.

Mr and Mrs Phillips "gave"blood three times at thesessions, each time posing as adonor with a different profile.

"I had to pretend to feel faintafter one donation," says MrsPhillips,"and I must say, theway the staff looked after mefelt very realistic."

"There were people takingnotes at every stage, fromwhen we were greeted to thetea and biscuits.

“All volunteers were askedfor their views on how thingscould be improved and, at thesecond session, you could seesome alterations had beenmade, so the Blood Servicereally did listen to us."

"The blood service really did listen"

No, the cuppa's not being

phased out, but rumour has it

there may be moreon offer alongside

the biscuits.

rather than one donor at a time,which should halve the waitingtime for regular donors (newdonors will still be looked after on aone to one basis). And last but notleast, the refreshments are being,well, refreshed. No, the cuppa's not being phased out, but rumourhas it there may be more on offeralongside the biscuits. At the end ofthe session, donors will be askedhow the session went for them,and told the date of the next one.

Kate Burbridge, NationalStandards Manager, is facilitatingthis review. She says that the trial is making use of examples of best practice that we have foundthrough our top-to-bottomanalysis of the donation processacross the country. The trials atWorcester and Rugby are, for thefirst time, bringing all thesetogether.

Clinical and medical profes-sionals from within and outside theNBS have been invited to observethe trials. This will give staff anddonors a chance to look at theproposed changes and seewhether the new proposals areeffective. Whilst we are confidentour plans will be well received, it isvital that rigorous trials take placebefore changes are implementednationally.

Once the trials are complete wewill collate all responses and, wherenecessary, make final changes.Following on from this, we willwork together with our staff tointroduce the new system through-

Donors will soon be able to enjoyrevamped refreshments, alongwith other improvements atdonor sessions

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OVER TO YOU

WEBWATCH – KIDS’ VIEWIS IT TRUE THAT...

This is your chance to tell us your news, views and interesting or unusual donor stories. Write to Carlene Dias, Editor, The Donor, National Blood Service,Holland Drive, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE2 4NQ.

QI am undergoing a courseof acupuncture, can I still

give blood?

AWe will want to know whyyou are having it and if you

use a registered acupuncturist orgo to an NHS Hospital, we may askfor your practitioner’s registrationcertificate. If that’s all OK then you will be able to continue to give blood.

QI am sometimes anaemic, I can’t give blood can I?

AEach time you come to giveblood we will test your

haemoglobin levels (this is the redpigment in the red cells that carryoxygen round your body).Haemoglobin levels vary fromperson to person and can varywhen it’s hot or when you don’tget enough iron through your diet.If your haemoglobin level is lowthis means you may have ashortage of iron in your blood andyou would be unable to donate.Your doctor may put you on a shortcourse of iron tablets but, because

our haemoglobin levels do vary, the chances are that once you have finished taking iron tabletsyou would be able to donate blood again.

QI am taking antidepres-sants. Does this stop me

from being a blood donor?

A It really depends how oftenand which ones you take,

but regular treatment withantidepressants does notnecessarily preclude you. If you arefit and well and on a mild form ofantidepressant you should be ableto donate. You can ask the staff atthe session, as they will take yourfull medical history before you areable to give blood.

QI had jaundice as a babyand have been told by

a friend I can’t give blood, isthis true?

ANo, if you had jaundice as aninfant or child under twelve

you are eligible to give blood.Jaundice is not contagious andposes no risk to others.

12 THE DONOR AUTUMN 2001 Find where to give blood visit www.blood.co.uk

The paybackIn 1955 when I was seven, myfather was diagnosed with chronicnephritis and given three months tolive. He lived for ten years due tothe care of my mother and awonderful family doctor.

In those days the treatment forkidney complaints consisted of ahigh protein diet and iron injections.

Towards the end of his illnessthe treatment for his complaintchanged. He was given a bloodtransfusion and the transformationwas incredible. The sick, pale, tired,lifeless man had rosy cheeks, moreenergy. The last two years of his life were made so much morebearable for him thanks to bloodtransfusions; the difference it madeto us as a family I shall never forget.

Quite a few years later I started anew job where there was a mobileBlood Service Unit. That was when Istarted “giving back”. Over thirtyyears later I am about to give my50th donation. Even so I am surethat I have not yet repaid all the

blood my father received.I wonder how many people

realise the drip of fluid into theirloved one’s vein is a blood product?What we don’t read is where thatblood product came from.

My suggestion is that a smallparagraph on the blood product(drip) should read something likethis: At source this blood productwas donated freely to you and yoursby another human being. Want togive it back? Phone the NBS.

Had I read something like thismaybe I would now be about togive my 75th donation!A WILSON

SUTTON COLDFIELD

In trouble for giving bloodDuring the early 60’s whilst I wasserving in the army, a weekend passwas offered to anyone donatingblood. Since I had already givenblood I had no qualms aboutdonating and a weekend passmeant freedom from guard duties.

I gave blood and duly received

the treasured pass. It seemed such agood idea that I did this for fourconsecutive weeks but then had toexplain why I had not been onguard for a month.

My story was not accepted and Iwas duly charged for absentingmyself from duty. I appeared beforethe Officer Commanding (OC) andsaid there was no indication thatdonations could only be made once.

Luckily for me the OC acceptedmy explanation and the charge wasdismissed but the next weekend Iwas on guard duty!DANIEL H JAGO

STAINES MIDDLESEX

Park and giveMay I make a suggestion which Ithink would prove extremelypopular with donors (especially intourist and city centre areas) at nocost to the NBS?

Since sessions now usually lastfor more than an hour, could not afree car parking pass be sent withthe donor invitation, valid for two

Are your kids learning about blood at school? Well you can make their homework more fun by visiting the BloodZone on our website at www.blood.co.uk.

Here they can try their hand at a couple of fun Billy BloodDrop quizzes about blood, or they could visit the interactivearea based on the famous Nick Arnold children's book "Blood,Bone and Body Bits.” Here they can learn about the bloodhighway by travelling along it, find out what doctors did yearsago with leeches, discover what happened during the first blood transfusions and much, much more.

And don't just think this is for the kids, it is also fascinatingfor people of all ages.

hours on the date of the session?I’m sure that local Councils couldbe persuaded to accommodate theNational Blood Service to thatextent and it would save donors alot of money over the years.S.ROLLINSON

PAIGNTON, DEVON

Editor’s Response We do have afew Councils around the countrywho offer free parking to blooddonors. If any of our donors canpersuade other Councils pleaselet us know.

Creative donationAfter several years lying on a bedstaring at a blank ceiling whilstdonating blood I have come to theconclusion that Michaelangelo wasa blood donor.

It was this that gave him theinspiration to paint the SistineChapel!DEREK J. R. PELLATT

ORMSKIRK

We answer some of your questions about donating

Due to shortage of space not all publishedletters are shown in full. Whilst we wel-come your letters, we cannot guaranteea reply or to publish them. However, anycomplaints raised will be responded tovia our complaints procedure.


Don’t waste a drop – that’sthe message gettingaround hospitals today

thanks to the highly effective liai-son system between hospital con-sultants and the NBS. Both sidesare increasingly working togetherto ensure blood is being used effi-ciently in every hospital in thecountry. As NBS Lead Consultantfor Hospital Liaison, based at theBlood Donor Centre in Oxford, DrMike Murphy is at the heart of thisprocess of refining best practice forblood use.

“It’s well known that there’s alot of variation in how blood is usedfrom hospital to hospital,” says DrMurphy. “You can look at howhospitals compare in their use ofblood for the same operation – saya hip replacement or cardiacbypass, and see differences whichare not to do with the patient, butwith the clinical team.

“By collecting data and feedingit back to hospitals, showing themwhere they are on the ‘leaguetable’ and providing them withguidance, hospitals can beencouraged to use blood moreefficiently.”

Dr Murphy points out that whiledemand for blood is static “It isbecoming more difficult to collect itso it is vital to use our blood stocksoptimally. The NBS is working reallyhard to interact with hospitals tounderstand what their needs are.”

Crack of dawn startApart from his hospital liaisonwork, Dr Murphy is also LeadConsultant Haematologist for theNBS and the John RadcliffeHospital, and Senior ClinicalLecturer in Transfusion Medicine atthe University of Oxford. It’s a busylife, but, says Dr Murphy, hewouldn’t have it any other way.

“The best part is the variety of thework, the many people I interactwith, and the way the local andnational roles knit together. Isuppose the hardestpart is prioritising allthe many demands –from providing a localservice, to keeping up with my nationaland internationalobligations.”

A typical day lastmonth started at5.30am. After a briefbreakfast, Dr Murphywas on the road fromhis Lambourn home,30 miles from Oxford,and in the office by7.00am. “It’s a nicequiet time and I cancheck the overseasemails that come in overnight.”

Correspondence sorted, DrMurphy then settled down toprepare a talk he was to give thefollowing week.

8.00am and it was time to meetone of the nurses to discuss an NBS

MY LIFE: Dr Mike Murphy NBS LEAD CONSULTANT FOR HOSPITALS

Blood on the (right) tracksDr Murphy is right at the centre ofdeciding how hospitals can makethe very best use of their blood stocks

funded research project involvingthe bar-coding of blood packs andfor patient identity to help reducethe risk of transfusion errors.

“Then I took a lot of phone callsto do with hospital liaison, followedby a meeting with colleagues at the

hospital blood bank, in my role ofbeing in charge of blood transfusionfor the Trust. The John RadcliffeHospital provides blood for allhospitals in the Oxford area.”

Better transfusion a priorityAt 12.30 Dr Murphy was back in hisoffice and talking to a Departmentof Health colleague about aforthcoming seminar on BetterBlood Transfusion. “It’s importantbecause all sides of the Blood

Transfusion community will gettogether and talk about howtransfusion can be improved.”Having thrashed out what is bestpractice in this vital field, a circulargiving recommendations will besent to all Chief Executives ofHealth Trusts.

Then it was back to the office fora sandwich. More phone calls,

followed by a “mad tidy up, andfinishing a talk I am due to givesoon.”

At 6.00pm it was time to headfor home, for a quiet evening withhis wife Sarah and children James,8, and Anna, 6.

Above and below: It’s a busy life,but Mike loves the variety ofroles he has, from hospital liaisonand clinical work to internationalblood expert

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“By collecting dataand feeding it

back... hospitalscan be encouraged to use blood more

efficiently.”

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PLATELETS

Rebecca developed diabetes whenshe was six. Two weeks after thatdiagnosis, consultants confirmedshe also had leukaemia.

Two years treatment led toremission for six months. Butcomplications set in, leading tothree years more treatment. In1999 Rebecca went into remission

again but sadly, last December, shewas diagnosed with terminalleukaemia. Throughout hertreatment Rebecca has neededblood and blood products: platelettransfusions because chemotherapydestroys her own, and red celltransfusions to prevent anaemia.


Some children are nothingshort of miraculous.Rebecca Taylor is one of

them. When all the odds arestacked against her, when her con-sultants have all but given uphope, she pulls through andbounces back to her cheeky, deter-mined self.

Rebecca is 13 and hasleukaemia. Her condition iscomplicated further because shehas Down’s Syndrome anddiabetes. Born in August 1988,

Donors do helpBecause of her Down’s Syndrome,Rebecca cannot have a bonemarrow transplant like other

leukaemia sufferers. So blooddonations are literally keeping heralive. Her consultant Dr ChrisMitchell says, “It is the continuoussupport of blood donors thatenables hospitals to treat andmaintain the care of their patients.People like Rebecca rely on blooddonors every week of their lives.”

When staff at the NBS in Oxfordfirst met Rebecca, her parents, Roband Julie, had been told thatRebecca only had a couple ofmonths left to live.

That was nearly nine monthsago. Rebecca’s 13th birthday lastmonth is a milestone her mum Julienever dreamed she would reach.She says, “Rebecca is a real fighter,she continues to surprise us withher strength. But we know that hersurvival is due to the skill of herconsultants and the constantsupply of blood and platelets thatRebecca receives.

“Every blood donor shouldconsider themselves true lifesavers.I will always be grateful to the

Tiny unborn babies, leukaemia sufferers, bonemarrow recipients, people recovering from majoroperations – all these patients can benefit fromplatelet donations. Platelets, small cells in theblood that help it to clot, are vital to the survivalof many ill people, and because platelets can onlybe stored for a few days, donors are in greatdemand especially around the holiday periods.

By giving blood you are already donatingplatelets, but this isn’t enough to meet patientneeds. We collect more platelets by a processcalled apheresis which you can volunteer for.

If you decide to do this, an extra blood samplewill be taken at your donor session and tested tocheck your platelet levels are high enough. If they

are, you’ll be given an appointment for furtherblood tests to measure your antibody levels, plus ahealth check. If all’s well you can start donatingplatelets by apheresis.

There are about 20 NBS sites around the coun-try equipped with the special apheresis machinesthat separate platelets from blood. Basically bloodis taken from your arm, platelets are separated outin the machine, and the rest of the blood isreturned to you. The whole process takes about 90minutes. Because platelet levels return to normalwithin a few days, you can donate as often asevery fortnight. It’s up to you.

For further information please call the DonorHelpline 0845 7 711 711.

Wanted! More platelet donors

Left: Rebecca and her Dad Rob(left) with her consultant Dr ChrisMitchell

We always need new donors. So please, if you are not adonor, fill out the coupon opposite, place it in an enve-lope and send it to National Blood Service, FREEPOST, 75Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 7YB, or call 0845 7 711711 now to enrol as a blood donor.


SURNAME

Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss

FIRST NAME

DATE OF BIRTH / /

ADDRESS

POSTCODE

DAYTIME PHONE No

To give blood you need to be in good health, aged 17 to 60 and weigh over 7st 12lbs/50kg. Please send this coupon to the address opposite. MO6

NBS INFORMATION

If you need any information about givingblood, just call the Donor Helpline and staffwill answer your queries on:

• Where you can give blood locally

• Whether you are able to give blood

• Your donor session details

• How travelling abroad might affect yourgiving blood

• Medical aspects of giving blood

• Any other general donor matters

Remember, you can call the Helpline to tell us if you have moved house or changedemployers - we don't want to lose you

Our Donor Helpline is open for generalenquiries 24hrs a day, every day of the year.

DON’T FORGET BBC2 Ceefax page 465 will giveyou details of the next two days’ blood donorsessions in your TV region.

For all your enquiries the Donor Helpline number is

0845 7 711 711ALL CALLS ARE CHARGED AT LOCAL CALL RATE

Permanent Blood Donor Sites If, for any reason, your local donor session is no longer suitable, thenit may be more convenient for you to attend one of our permanentBlood Donor Centres. Please call the Donor Helpline to find out thedetails of the centres listed here:

LONDON Edgware, Tooting, West End

NORTH EAST Bradford, Leeds, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,Sheffield

NORTH WEST Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester

MIDLANDS Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Oxford,Stoke-on-Trent

SOUTH EAST Luton, Cambridge, Brentwood

SOUTH WEST Bristol, Gloucester, Plymouth, Southampton

Do you want to know where yournearest session is?It’s easy, just visit our web site www.blood.co.uk and click on theheart in the bottom left of the blue band, “where to donate”,then click on “the nearest session” text in the second sentenceand up pops a box that asks you to enter your postcode or town.

Almost instantly, the computer generates a list of sessionsclosest to the location you have given, along with a map. The oneslisted in black are confirmed dates, those in grey are not yetconfirmed.

You can also check on session dates from the same page usingthe pop-up menus on the page.

Those of you on older browsers are recommended to click theno map option, to make things work more smoothly.

Happy surfing.

WEB WATCH

Against all oddsHow teenager Rebecca Taylor is fightingleukaemia with the help of life-saving bloodand blood products

People like Rebecca rely onblood donorsevery week of

their lives.

DID YOU KNOW!24 Wembley Stadiums

would be required to seat all

our blood donors

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It is hard to believe Rubina Salim has a life-threatening condition. But she was born withthe genetic blood disorder Thalassaemia Majorand is dependent on donated blood to stay alive.

United behind RubinaFourteen year old Rubina

Salim from Tooting, SouthLondon, has a life-threaten-

ing condition. Not that it is imme-diately obvious. Rubina is a typical-ly lively teenager who tries not tolet illness hamper her lifestyle.

However, she was born with thegenetic blood disorder, BetaThalassaemia Major, which affectsthe haemoglobin in the red bloodcells. She has been utterlydependent on blood transfusionsher whole life, and receives twoand a half units of blood everymonth in ‘Jungle Ward’ at StGeorge’s Hospital, South London.

Beta Thalassaemia Major tendsto affect certain ethnic groupsmore than others: people ofMediterranean origin, especiallyfrom Italy, Greece, Turkey andCyprus, are more prone to thedisease, as are those from Pakistan,China, Africa and people of Afro-Caribbean descent. To a lesserextent it is found in people fromIndia, Thailand, the Middle East andEurope.

The known cureThe only cure for Beta ThalassaemiaMajor is a bone marrow transplant,which depends on finding asuitable donor. Probably, Rubinawill remain reliant on her monthly

visits to the hospital for the rest ofher life.

Sufferers of Beta ThalassaemiaMajor like Rubina are 100% blood

dependent – without blood, theywouldn’t be alive. But they needthe right blood match, whichmeans blood donated by people

with arrer blood groups and fromethnic backgrounds. We are onlytoo aware of the fact that blooddonors do not, at the present time,reflect Britain’s rich multiculturalpopulation.

A helping handWe desperately need a wider ethnicmix of donors to come forward on aregular basis, or new donors withthe rarer blood groups found in theUK – the ‘B’ groups.

If you think you might be able tohelp people suffering from BetaThalassaemia Major, because ofyour blood group, why not thinkseriously about donating moreregularly? By attending only three

sessions a year you will be directlyhelping someone like GCSEstudent Rubina to achieve theirambitions. And don’t forget toencourage friends and family todonate.

As Rubina herself puts it: ‘I haveto spend all day in hospital but I trynot to think about it. I want tothank all the people that giveblood. Without them I don’t think Iwould be alive today.’

NEWS EXTRA

16 THE DONOR AUTUMN 2001 Don’t forget the Helpline number 0845 7 711 711

GET TO IT1,700 orgnisations

host donor sessions.Thank you.

Now quick, find one,give blood and

save lives togetherwith them.

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“I want to thankall the people

that give blood.Without them I don’t think

I would be alivetoday.”

Beta Thalassaemia Major is an inherited blood dis-order that affects the haemoglobin in the redblood cells, leading to a severe type of anaemia.(Haemoglobin is responsible for carrying oxygenaround the body.)

Our haemoglobin type is passed on from ourparents through genes. If both parents have theBeta Thalassaemia trait, each child they have has a1 in 4 chance (25 per cent) of being born with BetaThalassaemia Major.

Children with Beta Thalassaemia Major become

anaemic between the ages of 3 to 18 months.Indefinite blood transfusions every four weekstreat the anaemia, making the child feel well andable to enjoy a near normal quality of life.

There are currently 968 people with BetaThalassaemia Major living in Britain. For moreinformation, contact:

The Haemoglobinopathy Association ofCounsellors (S.T.A.C.) on 020 7414 1363 The UK Thalassaemia Society on 020 8782 0011, or visit www.stacuk.org.

What is Beta Thalassaemia Major

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Documents

The Donor - Autumn 2001